#there is variants of other tribes on the continent

[avatarvyakara]

And now for something a little different:

(Yes, this is what I’ve been working on for the past while.)

For context:

The story of the Golden River—’Onochok in Kochachi, Kingawa in Nikkeijin Japanese—with its five rivers, its seven great cities, its many-buttressed buildings and sacred isles—is a complex one, as is the story of the Nikkei-jin, the Japanese settlers who became the greatest rivals of the people of the Bay. But they are not alone, in the story of this continent. Nor can what happened to them truly be divorced from events elsewhere in the known world.

The continent of HESPERIA lacks much in the way of domesticable animals, but there was one key exception—camelops celeris, which the Bay would call ’espeli (plural ’espelik) but most of the world would come to call nayoomee. Large and llama-like, the nayoomee would provide meat, wool, and perhaps most importantly a suitable mount. Camelops c. occidentalis, the variant found on the western coast of Hesperia, would come to be used by the ancient Hokan pastoral peoples, giving them an edge against the Yok-Utian agriculturalists…at least at first. It would also give the ancient Inawemaaganic [Algonquian] tribes on what another history would call the Columbia Plateau a key boost in their expansions across the continent to the west.

It is with these people—or with a descendant people, the Nnu [Mi’kmaq]—that the next stage of the story takes place. Because in the year 1000, a ship came from the northeast of the world, bearing warriors from a faraway land, a strange faith, strange new animals—and strange diseases. Smallpox in particular did a lot of damage—tore the Wóšnathípi Empire to pieces, ended the cult of the Bird-Men, nearly destroyed the power of the Turtle Cities of the Great Lakes, and left piles of burning corpses brightening the night in the Bay, among other effects. Key to all this, though, is that the people of the urban civilizations of Hesperia survived. And those who did now had a boost against the sicknesses of the Other World.

The story continues in 1251, when a group of Tau raiders—whom another history would call the Inuit—made their way across the Strait and traded with Japan and China. North China, anyway; the Mongol Conquest was still ongoing at the time. Unfortunately, the Tau brought a disease of their own with them, which English speakers would come to call alcom: a herpesvirus causing diarrhea, spots, and febrile seizures, and then, as little as four months or as much as five years later, inflammation of the body—including fatal encephalitis. It was this sickness, also called the Red Death, which among other things stopped the Yuan from getting all the way south, saved the city of Baghdad (by forcing a recall of the armies), ensured the presence of Christian kingdoms in Palestine and Muslim principates in Iberia for centuries to come, and meant that the population had already dropped by a full fifth across Eurasia when bubonic plague came along not too long later.

It would be a much more haggard, somewhat more fervent, world which was set to unite in 1485, when Kuroda Kiyoshi, frustrated at the Mongol omnipotence in trade, was granted permission by the Emperor Go-Tenji (Yamahito) to seek an alternative trade route with the faraway land of Europe. After being at sea for thirty-nine days, on the fortieth they came to a great bay, filled with sacred islands and surrounded by cities of stone and mud.

In keeping with a time-honoured tradition across the multiverse, he deemed it France.

***

Hesperia will have had three and a half thousand years of recognizable “civilization” (large-scale agriculture, cities, literacy, metallurgy, epidemic disease, war) by the time the worlds collide. The countless cultures to have risen and fallen in that time could fill a book—and in this world and ours they already have. But for simplicity’s sake, let us divide the world into six portions.

KAWIINI, the “centre-world”, marks the western coast of the continent, along the edge of the Assinotie Mountains (which another history would call the Rockies). This is where the nayoomee was first domesticated; this is where tule reed was first stamped into paper scrolls; this is where the first outbreak of alcom occurred; this is where one of the continent’s three major religions, HOYOHHA, would develop. The region of Lokloni, the “Great Valley”, contains four great powers constantly one-upping each other in trade and warfare. The KOCHACHI, whom another history would call the Miwoks, hold sway here, the Earth-King and Water-King in Hulpu-Mni (our Sacramento) controlling the massive river valley to the north and (more importantly) four of the Seven Cities around the Bay. The other powers worth mentioning are the SHUURVITAM [Tongva and nearby Takic peoples] to the south, whose great city of Iyáanga would later be described as a “Babylon in Paradise”, and the TAU, Hesperia’s first intercontinental empire.

TUUWAQATSI is slightly to the east, in the Assinoti Mountains themselves. Cliff-cities were being built here before almost anywhere else on the continent; the arrival of the nayoomee, and more importantly domesticated bighorn sheep, did wonders for the local economy, as did goosefoot and sunflowers and, later, maize, beans, and squash. Currently most of the land—and a good chunk of the plains to the east—is under the control of the TINTA IMPERIUM, whose dominant inhabitants call themselves the Nemi and are called the Shoshone in our timeline. Of mention are the DINÉ, the Navajo, who have maintained a reasonable presence despite the efforts of the Eight Mayors, and the ÂSHINI [Zuñi] and HOPI, both of whom are considered de facto independent peoples within the Tinta Imperium thanks to the prominence of their cities.

ÑÍTA is what our world would call the Mississippi River Basin, with much territory on the eastern coast and the western plains; perhaps it would be fairer to call it the home of the Mississippian Cultures instead. Here grow sunflowers and goosefoots, amaranth and squash; here a species of dwarf bison was domesticated for meat and wool, becoming immensely valuable; here rose the cult of the Bird-Men, in recent centuries overthrown. Currently the ancient city of Omašté, ruled as ever by the ancient WAPKÁTXUNGWANG (called the Lakota in our own timeline), has recovered most of its former territories after the Scabbing (smallpox epidemic). But further to the south the OKLA (Choctaw) have begun spreading their own faith, HVSHI ANOWA, along with their Horsemen, uniting the Riverlands by something other than mercantile cunning or brute strength. Ugedaliyv, homeland of the ANIYVWIYA’I [Cherokee], has broken away, seemingly for good—so long as the Ongweh’onweh (Iroquois) don’t make a move in their direction. And as always, there are the SEA COUNTRIES: Aphópkee, Hótvlee-Tv’lwv, Chitkohòki, and Kuht’hanut, caught between too many powers and just wanting a relatively quiet life.

AKIIWAN is actually a ridiculously large region, from the Atlantic to the Arctic, and almost all of it is Cree. NĒHIRAW, that is; they are perhaps the oldest continuous INAWEMAAGANIC culture, keeping to their ancestral patterns of semi-nomadic migration from buried city to buried city, all across the northern grasslands and into the taiga. But although the largest, they’re by no means considered the most influential. No, that would be the circuits of GAMEEN, the land around the five Great Lakes which would come to be known as Gameen in time. The BII’WEG, our Ojibwe or Anishinaabeg, were the first to domesticate lake rice, and the first to smelt arsenic bronze, and the second to adopt ironworking. Their main religion, NANDOWIN, has spread far across the continent; most of the Nēhiraw have synchronized to it, and even the arrival of the Vinlanders couldn’t stop the NNU from seeking the Answers they wanted. The VINLANDERS themselves have all but fully integrated into Nnu society; both their language and that of the Nnu are spoken equally at the great Althing in Kyrvik/Welta’qase’g (and most places have two names, too). Their trading (and raiding) empire stretches as far north as Nucho, Baffin Island in another time, and as far south as the Bawa Sea. And they’ve come at last to an uneasy truce with the Bii’weg, at least until the whole mess with the ONGWEH’ONWEH [Haudenosaunee] is sorted out.

The tropical BAWA SEA has long been dominated by the TAÍNO, whose ship-building has moved from dugout canoes to junk-like ships with cotton sails and mahogany hulls. The cacicazgos of the four main islands have a strict policy of peace on land. …and technically on water, too, but normally they just end up hiring Huasteca, Carib, Tupi, Okla, or Vinlandic pirates to capture each others’ ships. Captured Taíno are ransomed; captured pirates are sold, or brought back to work on plantations. For the Taíno, thanks to the Tupi, are now Hesperia’s main source of KYE, an extract of stevia rebaudiana up to 300 times sweeter than sugar. People in the north will pay a small fortune for the chance at even a taste; it is small wonder that when Malinese explorers come this way, they will name it the Digeji—the Sea of Honey.

ANAHUAC is a world of its own. The NAHUA peoples made their way south some time ago, riding nayoomee and herding peccaries through the desert and introducing steeds and sickness alike to the various civilizations to the south while pinching the secret of bronze from the Purépecha. These days, the Nahua—or more precisely the MEXICA—rule a decent chunk of the country that would in another world (and another time) be called Mexico, under three great kings on their island city of Nopalla. The only real contenders are the ZAPOTECS and MIXTECS, who remain among the few places the Mexica have not been able to bring under tributary sway, and the MAYA, disparate jungle city-states who survived the plagues and general collapse and have begun trading chocolate and jade with the Taíno to the north and the Tupi to the south. The Mexica are known historically for their logistics, nayoomee being excellent tools for message delivery, but in the past few decades the capture of human sacrifices has been getting a little too much for subject people who can’t understand why they don’t just eat their giant dogs instead. Still, it’s not all bad; perhaps it just needs some shaking up…

#alternate history #Kingawa #aboriginals #first nations #canada #california #maps #indigenous people #for want of a nail #you know how many languages I’ve been having to learn for this thing? #the answer is both so many and too few #anyone have a decent Lakota grammar they can suggest #aztecs #ojibwa #vinland saga #miwok #Tongva #lakota #more work to do

[sukimas]

mila and duma being earth dragons also makes sense with the fact that they end up having degeneration happen. we know from All That Bull Shit that happens in archanea that if you've got a dragonstone, degeneration doesn't happen to you, no matter how much you abuse your power; naga was worried it would happen to tiki, thus she had gotoh shut her up in the ice temple asleep for a millennium, but it didn't end up being relevant in the slightest. even when the binding is broken, as in awakening, tiki is completely unconcerned with the whole affair. we hear from xane and gotoh that overusing your power if you have it sealed in a dragonstone just exhausts the dragonstone and kills you instead, which is why there are barely any divine dragons left.

we can assume, since we see duma in his dragon form, that he just stays in that all the time. that's fine for the draconic degeneration plot. however, the other plot point here is that mila was also going off the deep end- despite the fact that she shows up in human form.

you might assume that the orb she's holding in her introduction cutscene is a dragonstone, but i think that that's possibly false; though she does appear to channel her power through it, she's got her wings, horns, and tail even beforehand, so if she's sealed her dragon form away she hasn't done a very good job of it.

heroes isn't really canon, but it's notable that neither she nor duma use dragonstones in their art, unlike other dragons who are not very dead like naga (notably, fucking medeus does, even though he's a shadow dragon in his heroes variant)

these two- taking human forms but not actually having sealed away their power- are in direct contrast to the divine dragon tribe, who seal away their power to such an extent that they and everyone who follows their lead are easily able to be defeated by humans. there are no exceptions to this rule among the divine dragons, as far as we're aware.

but if these two are earth dragons (even partially) this does make sense. obviously, they're loyal to naga, but she still sends them away with falchion (perhaps the prototype falchion?), not trusting that they'll stay on the side of humanity. if they were willing to seal their power away somewhat for appearances but still wanted to help humankind (by granting them either power or prosperity), they'd be fulfilling the goals of both tribes...

or so they think until The Incident, anyway.

draconic degeneration doesn't happen on other continents besides fodlan, which runs on archanea rules anyway and has dragons which obviously don't properly seal away their power, and fateslandia, which is fateslandia and better off forgotten. the rules for it on archanea are pretty well established, as are the loyalties that lead some tribes to experience it by marth's time and others not to.

mila and duma as solely divine dragons fucks all of that up. so for the benefit of making archanea lore coherent in the slightest: they're just hybrids, lol.

#that would also explain why naga found them such a headache she banished them to an island #members of the divine dragon tribe certainly don't do what she wants all the time #(hi gotoh introducing magic to humanity how are you doin over there) #but them having possibly split loyalties in a big fuckoff war WOULD be an issue

[awindinthelantern]

Character origin ideas for the Barbarian class in a 19th- or 20th-century-inspired campaign (steampunk, roaring twenties, dieselpunk, etc.)

barroom brawler (literally). They're the child of poor immigrants and grew up in a dog-eat-dog world in the slums, being pushed around since they were young, and once they got big enough to be the one doing the pushing they found they loved the taste of it. works for origins ranging from large cities to frontier towns.

pioneer settlers moving to the hinterlands of the new continent (think Alaska or Australia. Also known as woodsmen or bushmen, as in those roughing it in "the bush"). they live by taming the wilds of their new homeland, clearing the brush and eking out a living growing hardy crops and farming meat, and making a living cutting lumber to be shipped downriver toward the cities and frontier towns. ○ variant: bush pilot, a pilot who flies cargo and passengers to and from remote locations in the hinterlands ("the bush"). they're trained in the art of survival in the wilderness, and are able hunters when necessary.

a child of pioneer settlers who has anger issues, and has always gotten into fights and struggled to get along with others. They are sent from their farm to the big city or a regional town to explore the world and see if they can make a way for themselves among the vagrants and prospectors and travelling salesmen.

a "Brave" (warrior) from a recently contacted tribe, in the Arctic, desert, or jungle, who has received a spiritual quest from their people to accompany these strange foreigners back to civilization, to see what the wider world is like.

a child given up by their parents as a young child and raised in a monastery. They were raised to be a monk but proved too hot-blooded and too fond of fighting, and were trained in the way of a warrior then sent out into the world to find their place in it, as the monastery is not their fate. Works well for ancient yet very rural countries like Mongolia.

orphaned by a pandemic in a frontier settlement and raised in a regional orphanage, they grew up fighting with the other kids and were expelled from the school as soon as they came of legal age. They venture forth into the world to seek their fortune and make the world learn their name. ○ variant: Stolen from their indigenous family by settlers and raised in a boarding school (research Indian boarding schools), they were orphaned from their own heritage and taught the religion of the interlopers, then placed with foster families when they were older. They've run away from their adopters and are on a journey to find their people and reclaim their heritage.

A farmer or pastoralist from a nomadic herding people in the Arctic or Steppe (Nenets reindeer herders for example) who has always felt off-kilter and detached from their people. They were raised gently and haven't gotten into fights since they were young (research Inuit parenting styles) but their blood runs hot and anger always simmers beneath their stoic surface. They confess what they feel to their village elder, who sends them on a spiritual quest into the outside world to try and find the answers they seek.

#barbarian #dnd #d&d #dnd ideas #rpg ideas #d&d ideas #rpg #barbarian class #roaring 20s #dieselpunk #steampunk

[fitzefitcher]

I dunno if you still accept gentle horde headcanons but the thought popped into my head of blood elves and nightborne having more difficulty learning orcish than the other races that joined the horde and their tutors helping them as best they can.

I Am Always Accepting Gentle Horde Content

objectively, orcish Would be the most difficult for them to learn- zandalari to them would be an adjacent language like french is to italian or spanish, so trolls would be no problem, and the forsaken being dead lordaeronites would know common and probably a least a working knowledge of elvish, and belves vice versa, so not many problems there, either. taura'he might be difficult in that it's the farthest language structurally from anyone they'd be nearby, but the nightborne might have an easier time w the highmountain being right there. and goblins, being goblins, I assume are universally polyglots, because it seems like it would be culturally necessary for them as they travel everywhere and speak with everyone

orcish, being the native language of another planet, is probably the farthest thing imaginable from anything they could've encountered, and as such would be wildly difficult to master, especially for the nightborne who would've had No interaction with orcs prior to joining the horde

additionally, I enjoy the headcanon that orcish clans (and tauren tribes tbh), being as widespread and varied as they are, probably have 1 million regional variants for orcish. like, they can definitely communicate alright, but comparing frostwolf orcish to say, bleeding hollow orcish, on the other side of the continent, would be like comparing american english to australian english. the base language is still there, but the regional dialect is a language all its own

#ask tag #gentle horde content #warcraft

[digganobz]

I made a Genghis Khan Mongolia-inspired country, and it's got Werewolves

Konquestia's the name. Or The Konquestian Khanate. On the nose, yes I know. Bear with me.

TL;DR - militaristic society of topknot-having tribal warrior horsemen who employ hidden werewolf mage units as their regular forces, and are a nightmare to fight against because of the random outbursts of extreme violence the werewolves are capable of delivering whenever they're unleashed.

Rip, tear, throat-sing and chill.

___________________________________

The context:

It's basically a big plains and steppe country with a small mountain range to the West. It doesn't really have a centralized governing system, but instead, lotsa smaller tribes dotting its landscape. That is the usual state of things - but every once in a while, out comes a Khan who is strong enough (both in mind and body) to unite the majority (or sometimes all) of the tribes underneath one flag and ride out to Divine War in order to reclaim the Green Oceans from those who do not believe in the Horses and the Wolves. This, of course, happens when the tribes aren't infighting. The thing is, every clan-chief and warleader and warlord and tribal lord thinks that they can become the next Khan, so a lot of the smaller, in-country wars happen when one of them declares themselves Khan and tries to unite the tribes.

To become a Khan capable of uniting the tribes, one needs the support of the Prophet. More on him in a bit.

Their religion is paganistic, and it's got two levels. The Wolf gods and the Horse gods. There's some differences between the two, namely in how the Wolf-devoted think they can strut around like peacocks and do whatever they want because "the Wolf told them they can", and bully the Horse people around - but the main gist of things is that the two same-yet-different religions claim that "Konquestians, the people of the Wolf and the Horse, lay claim by birthright on the green oceans sprawling across the land, as far as the eye can see". So basically, if it's a landmass, it "belongs" to the Konquestians. Their religion says so.

This is why they're very eager to make war whenever they feel like it. Despite that, they're not savages. Their forte is military (for the most part), but they're very spiritual, and have a developed sense for herding animals, domesticating animals, building and managing large farmlands, etc. Very homestead-y, the people. They have the finest horse breeds in the continent, and trade is done because despite Konquestia usually being frowned upon by the rest of the world (due to their merry warmongering), everyone would kill to own and ride a Konquestian Black. The superior warhorse. And packhorse, and workhorse. The superior horse, honestly. Taller and broader and stronger and faster than regular horses. And are very expensive. Other than that, they have properly built cities and strongholds all across their Country. A few tribes are nomadic, and prefer to be on the move, but Konquestians enjoy themselves a secure place to live in and do whatever it is they do when they're not at war. They have schools, with an academy focused on two things in the biggest city that's usually reserved for the Khan: Military matters and Magic. If Konquestians wish to do something that isn't related to doing war, they usually just move out and go to another country that offers a broader spectrum of sciences and study disciplines.

The people are stout, broad-shouldered, warm-blooded, with shaved heads, tattooed skulls and fancy topknots. They are the most superior horse-riders in all of the continent they live in, and their cavalry tactics have been a thing to behold for hundreds of years. Numbering in uncountable hundreds of thousands, once a Khan comes around - their fighting forces can soar to reach more than a million.

Anyways, the Prophet. In the Western Mountains, known as the Wolf Mountains - there lives a special breed of Konquestian. For a percentage of the population, their mage genetics are attuned to lycanthropy with the wolf variant - so, every 3rd mage that awakens in Konquestia is a werewolf-y mage. This gene is strengthened and secured further by the families formed between these werewolf mage men and women who move away from their homes and go to live in the Wolf Mountains. There, a community, or a society of those who believe in the Wolf gods who have given them the blessings of the Fang and Fur, have built their cities. Ruled over by the mightiest and oldest of them all - The Grey Prophet, or simply The Prophet. Because of his status as a de-facto "wolf king" of sorts, and because the Wolves of Konquestia being the most ferocious, strongest and fiercest and most arrogant pieces of work you can come across, they enjoy an air of elite notoriety about them. And because a unit of Wolves can easily rip and tear a Cavalry unit apart, leaving behind bloody remnants - they are feared by those who believe in the Horses (that is, everyone else in Konquestia).

There are thousands of them living in the Wolf Mountains. Some have chosen to give themselves over to the bestial nature of the Wolf, while most of them choose to keep the beast at bay and walk around un-Furred.

Once a Khan makes an apparance, the Prophet goes and talks to this newly declared would-be leader of Konquestia, and if the Prophet decides that a Khan is worthy of being followed, the might of the Wolf Mountains is placed behind the Khan's back, and the unification of tribes goes on pretty smoothly because no one wants to needlessly be slaughtered by the Wolves. The Prophet then legitimizes the Khan, and a War of Reconquest begins anew.

Additional context (writer's note):

I specifically envisioned them to be NUMEROUS. Nature mages who can re-grow grazed valleys are a thing and so, having a fuckton of people and horses wouldn't be a nightmare to keep going (I did say they were excellent agriculturalists, and this is a high-magic world). Not all of them are nomads. Out of the three dozen tribes, maybe five or six are nomadic. And of those five or six, three tribes are going around as "armies for hire" by any Warlord who can pay them enough. The others keep to their own territories - think China's Warring States era, only more smaller states doing the same thing.

I don't see them as this "seething barbarian mass" stereotype in fantasy used for mongolian-inspired peoples. The war-time savagery and brutality of the warriors is vaguely inspired by Genghis' Mongolia; but Konquestia is more of a Kublai Khan era Mongolia (lacking an Emperor, alas). It's open to different cultures, inventions, new teachings, philosophies, etc. Not a "I have horse me kill non-horse rider because I love kill unga bunga" fantasy stereotype that is the default "steppe horde" culture.

They're pretty much doused in their military doctrines, have a code of honor that is relegated to "kill what you must, the rest is going to become a part of new Konquestian territory". They don't want to murderfuck every non-Konquestian from the face of the earth, simply put their own flag above every stretch of land and then rule it.

And they're not an underdeveloped culture in the grander scope of things, they've got education, they've got technology, they've got magery - maybe not as much as the neighboring countries (because of specific embargos put in place to prevent Konquestia getting shit like howitzers and installing gun batteries behind their battle lines), but they've got gunner units, horse archers, heavies, the wolf units, and they even have a system where they specifically target enemy officers; kidnap them and then spend a long ass time breaking their spirits down and brainwashing them so they can join one of the tribes as their own "military advisers" of sorts. This gives them access to foreign military doctrines and tactics, and Konquestian generals spend time analysing them and building contingency plans for them.

So, Konquestians aren't a dumb horseriding horde of savages, they are very good at warfare because of their strategies and tactics. The sheer numbers I want them to have is to simply make them into a larger threat, once they start spilling out of their borders numbering hundreds of thousands, about to wage war in every corner of the world and start winning.

#mongol empire #fantasy #fantasy worldbuilding #writing #worldbuilding #epic #epic fantasy #world building #warrior #writerblr #writers of tumblr #creative writing #fantasy setting #fantasy world #advice #writing advice #asks open #ask me things

[therealcalicali]

You seem to know a lot about history in general so I wanted to ask you. Do you know if the curly hair is an exclusive feature from black people and their descendants or there is another race/ethnicity that the curly hair is their feature too (I never studied about this topic so if I'm saying something wrong or racist please tell me I don't want to offend anyone)

Hey sweetie.💖🌼💖

According to experts, "There isn't many races/ethnicities that is associated with a certain hairtype with one big exception of Sub-Saharan Africans, who almost always have tightly curled hair."

Link: Understanding Genetics

But even within the continent of Africa there are 45 distinct countries all encompassing numerous tribes. Thus you will also find varying textures of hair not commonly known to the West.

Thus in America, we especially do not have a grasp on hair variants since African Americans descended from specific tribes and countries within Central and West Africa.

Thus, if one were to involve themlseves with Cultural Anthropology, they would widen their scope of genetics and hair.

Niger, Tuareg Tribe

Ethiopia, Afar Tribe

Chad, Basara Tribe

Angola & Northern Namibia, Mbalantu Tribe

Fulani Tribe: Peul or Fulbe, a primarily Muslim people's scattered throughout many parts of West Africa, from Lake Chad, in the east, to the Atlantic coast They are concentrated principally in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal, and Niger.

And those are only a few examples of African countries and their tribal genetic markers. 😱💖

Scientific Update Link

Australian scientists have identified the gene that strongly influences whether you have curly hair.

The trichohyalin gene has long been known to play some role in the development of the hair follicle. Now the researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have found that it is the main gene responsible for creating curls.

Their study appears in the latest edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Now as far as other ethnicities that possess curly hair, we have seen Jewish, Italian and other peoples with curls/waves. However, its always best to know things from a Scientific standpoint:

In Europe, 45% of individuals have straight hair, 40% have wavy hair, and 15% have curly hair

Asian-specific alleles of the EDAR and FGFR2 genes that are associated with thick, straight hair arose after the divergence of Asians and Europeans

They looked at variants in the Trichohyalin Gene and found it was associated with straight hair and distributed in Europe and some of Western Asia with the heaviest focus on Northern Europe (see top right map)

The alleles are different from the straight hair gene found in many areas of Asia and results in thinner hair.

Understanding Curly Hair Mechanics: Fiber Strength

Straight Hair and Curly Hair

Is hair texture determined by genetics

Shape variability and classification of human hair: a worldwide approach

Evolution of Skin pigmentation and Hair texture (PDF)

The difference between race and ethnicity

Hair texture and genetics

Common Variants in the Trichohyalin Gene Are Associated with Straight Hair

#asks answered #ask answered #answered asks #answers #cultural anthropology #african countries #hair and genetics

[mueritos]

You know not all transmeds are bad people, right? Yes you may not agree with their ideologies, but not all of them are like Blaire or Kalvin. Not all of them push their thoughts onto others or ignore a person's pronouns simply because they don't agree. They still try to be polite. At the end of the day, you're generalizing them, just as some transmeds tend to do as well.

I’ve had this ask in a while now and at first I was mulling over it and now I just look back and laugh. This is the equivalent of Trump saying “there are good people on both sides.” Here’s the thing: I recognize that on each side of an issue the people that comprise them are individuals. What I don’t recognize is the fact that the ones with harmful rhetoric are excused for not being as open or as assertive about it as others in their community. This lengthy so I will insert a read more. Not proof reading this so if there's spelling mistakes just get over it.

There is a spectrum to bigotry from violent and genocidal fascists to white women who clutch their purse just a little bit more tightly once a brown man enters the elevator with her; the point is is that it’s still bigotry. Here's the amazing thing about bigotry: we all perpetuate it. Yes, that means even the largest of saints are still capable of backwards thought. That’s quite clearly the point. For example, its not enough to say you’re not racist, no, because saying that gives a person enough feelings of validation to feel like they don’t have to examine their own internalized thoughts/feelings/ideas. What SHOULD be hailed as correct is to say you are ANTI-racist. The addition of the word ANTI signals two things: 1, you are AGAINST racism, and 2, you are working to be AGAINST racism. This includes keeping up with current events, listening to others’ experiences, learning when to be quiet, etc.

So how does this relate to the idea that all transmeds are transphobes? Well, we’ve already established that everyone is and are capable of bigotry on various levels. I feel I’ve already explained why transmed ideology is already transphobic before, but just to summarize why I personally do not subscribe to it: I refuse to partake in neocolonialism. Transmed ideology is a direct erasure of indigenous trans and gender variant identities/peoples by the assumption that trans or gender variant identities are rooted in medical diagnosis/treatment, and also by the assumption that gender dysphoria is a byproduct of transness when really its a byproduct of a Eurocentric society. Essentially, colonization sucks and is the reason why trans identities are so controversial in the first place (literally one of the first things that Christopher Columbus did when he set foot in America was round up all of the Two-Spirit people and set his dogs on them).

Okay, so I said my opinion with a bunch of fancy words, so what? The issue here boils down to neocolonialism. What europeans did to America (yes America and not THE AMERICAS, people seem the forget that north and south american are literally ONE continent) is obviously still evident today. In other words, what colonization did to the world is still evident today, and I think it’s incredibly important to be aware of how it’s still being perpetuated today. Rigid ideas of gender are just not true and to think that they were always so is just so false...”It was something of a historic coup to enforce the notion of two fixed, idealized genders that we now consider natural. Speaking in strictly physical terms, many perfectly healthy people are born intersexed, with male and female physiological characteristics, showing that these categories exist on a fluid continuum” (Anarchy Works, Peter Gelderloos). I’m not sure if you can understand the GRAVITY of the quote above, but this is not just online discourse, my friend. Trans identities have always existed, you see this in native Two-Spirits and in los Muxes from Oaxaca, Mexico, and biological variation is a natural and healthy phenomena that occurs in ALL species (and in fact is necessary for species survival). Concepts and ideas of “otherness” originated from colonizers with fucked up religions and capitalist greed. When we refuse to accept experiences other than our own (non-dysphoric/poc gnc trans ppl/mogai), when we refuse to listen to science and history (biological variation, indigenous trans identities), when we refuse to own up to the fact that evidence and science changes (”gendered brains” has been disproven yet still heralded as evidence for transmeds, etc), we are not only denying our perceived reality, we are perpetuating centuries of violence. 

Do I believe all transmeds are bad people? No, and I never said that. I just said transmed is transphobic. I am someone who believes in change as I have seen it occur in people I never thought possible. My father called my uncle a f*ggot for marrying late and today he is unlearning the years of hate instilled in him by a society that teaches to oppress and colonize. My mother told me no one would ever see me as a man, and today she calls me her son. Their comments were bigoted, but they are working to not be so.  THAT is what matters. I let my thoughts and my ideas and my research be presented publicly in hopes that someone may question something they were taught to be true, or in hopes that someone may learn to understand others better, etc. I focus my efforts on those are trying to understand, not on the ones who are just “polite” and sit on the sidelines watching with disgust in their minds. You may not necessarily be a “bad” person for subscribing to transmed rhetoric, but one should not deny the fact that transmed rhetoric is transphobic/racist/colonialist. If you are not working to be against bigotry, you are part of the problem. Decolonize yourself.

I hope this cleared things up. If I have some information incorrect, pls let me know. If you also have additional information, please add! If you would like additional reading/viewing:

Anarchy Works:

 https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works (Ch 1. Human Nature)

Los Muxes:

 https://youtu.be/iiek6JxYJLs

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/a-brief-history-of-muxe-mexicos-third-gender/

Two-Spirit:

https://kitschmix.com/two-spirit-spiritual-concept-gender-native-tribes/

 https://www.ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/

http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.gen.004

#pittsanswers #trans stuff #anti transmed #anti truscum #decolonization #transgender

[darnell]

Ever since watching Black Panther in theaters, my interest in wearing African jewelry has dramatically increased, despite previously not being a fan of wearing jewelry.

Perhaps the main reason is because while in the past the item may have looked great, it had no personal value to me & was more of a fashion statement.

These three pieces of jewelry however are unique, as they have personal meaning to me.

African Past

The African Ancestry Heirloom Pendant represents my ancestral past & ancient connections to six precolonial nations (aka tribes) in 5 present day countries:

Mandinka from Senegal 🇸🇳

Fula (aka Fulani) from Guinea Bissau 🇬🇼

Mende & Temne from Sierra Leone 🇸🇱

Kpelle from Liberia 🇱🇷

Yoruba from Nigeria 🇳🇬

I visited the Yoruba people last year (& loved it!) & my desire is to visit the ancestral lands of all of these nations as well as interact with the tribal locals who are blessed to inhabit the region.

African Future

The Wakanda necklace is created by Douriean Fletcher & is based upon the science fiction necklace featured in the movie Black Panther.

The necklace represents to me Africa’s potential as a technological, cultural & political power. It is a future I desire to see achieved in the present world.

The number seven is often seen as a number for completeness as well as perfection & to me represents seven areas Africa as a continent needs to focus on in order to make Wakanda a reality:

Energy (solar, nuclear, wind, etcetera)

Agriculture (plants, animals, distribution)

Mining (refining resources within the continent)

Medical (medicine, surgeries, etcetera)

Communication (internet, television, virtual reality, etcetera)

Finance (banking, a continental currency, etcetera)

Culture (promoting languages, customes, etcetera, within & abroad)

Perfecting each of these would enrich, enlighten & uplift over a billion people privileged enough to live on the continent.

Note: Their is also an either category—space—but that is a given as humanity is destined to build settlements upon other worlds.

African Present

The Juneteenth ring by CustomMade represents the present & I picked three symbols that currently define me.

Juneteenth Flag

The Star represents freedom of Africans in America in not just Texas (where enslaved Africans were freed on June 19th, 1865–hence the name Juneteenth) but in all 50 states.

The Nova Burst is a symbol for a new star or new day, which represents a new beginning for African Americans.

The curve or arc represents a new horizon with promises of new opportunities for African Americans

The colors Red, White & Blue are borrowed from the American Flag, & are a reminder that our enslaved ancestors who built the United States (unjustly without compensation) are Americans.

Credit: CBS 85 & National Juneteenth Observance Foundation

Cross & Crown of Thorns

The Cross & Crown of Thorns represents my spiritual faith which differs from my ancestral faith (more info on that in the next section).

Since there are numerous cross variants from Europe & Africa, I wanted to show case something that was generic as well as specific, which would also transcend cultures as some crosses are specific to certain regions or people groups (Latin, Celtic, Ankh, Cathololic, Protestant have their own variant crosses apparently).

Inspired by Danbury Mint’s Crown of Thorns Cross (which I purchased but rarely wore), the cross represents Jesus Christ’s sacrifice to atone for my sins, while the crown of thorns indicates God’s Kingship which was mockingly acknowledged by the Roman/Italian soldiers who crucified Christ.

The Star in the center indicates how precious the sacrifice was, & the empty cross itself symbolizes that Christ tasted death once & is resurrected forever more (never to repeat that gruesome sacrifice again).

Yoruba Symbol

The Yoruba symbol is borrowed from the (unofficial) Yoruba Flag & is the only tribe I am related to that seems to have an unofficial flag.

To me the sword/staff represents royalty & wealth while the energy beams around around it represent power & prosperity.

Yoruba is not just a language (which I am learning via Genii Games) & culture, but also a pantheistic religion still practices by millions in Nigeria.

Yoruba today are mostly Christian or Muslim, but all are aware of their ancestral beliefs.

O Dabọ

That’s it folks! Yes, this was a lengthy text, but hopefully this explains why I wear jewelry & it’s meaning to me.

#african jewelry #africa #african #african american #african ancestry #jewelry #wakanda #black panther #juneteenth #yoruba #mandinka #fulani #fula #mende #temne #kpelle #senegal #guinea bissau #sierra leone #liberia #nigeria #wakanda forever #christian #Jesus Christ #black jewelry #christianity #african religion #long reads

[thebabushka]

Thanksgiving

The first "thanksgiving" happened in October of 1621, but the constructed history and significance of that event has been over 500 years in the making.  When I was a child I liked Thanksgiving because it meant family time.  When I became a man I felt angered and betrayed by the truth of the holiday.  Now, as a father, I see Thanksgiving as a teachable moment - a chance to properly frame the history of the day while still enjoying time with my two boys, my wife, and my family.  Holidays are a wonderful chance to remember where we come from, what is important to us, and how we got where we are.  Mark Twain is attributed as saying something to the effect of "history doesn't actually repeat itself, but it often rhymes."  Thanksgiving gives us a lot of opportunity to reflect on this.

In order to better understand the first Thanksgiving, we start nearly 100 years earlier in the 1530s.  The King of England, Henry VIII, wanted to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon (she was the first of what would end up being six wives), but the Pope wouldn't allow it.  So the King declared that the Pope was no longer the head of the church.  This set England on a path that renounced Catholicism in favor of the Church of England as the ultimate religious authority, and set the King as the head of that Church.  100 years later, it was not acceptable in England to be any sort of Christian other than as part of the Church of England.

The King of England was a powerful man who may have usurped a religion to get what he wanted.  The religious intolerance of England back then echoes to recent times as strife between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland.  And while today England is full of people who are allowed to practice other religions, it is interesting that in 1620 the pilgrims to America were the "wrong kind" of Christian to be in England.  (Perhaps there will always be "wrong kinds" and "others" in our society, and perhaps the test of our virtue isn't in the certainty of our beliefs, but in our tolerance for alternatives.)

Intolerance was a problem for the group of Christians who would become the Pilgrims, and that intolerance ran both ways.  They wanted to be separate from the Church of England, and to worship in their own way.  But such dissent would not be tolerated and they were persecuted.  So they fled England and moved to Holland where there was some acceptance for differences in religion.  However, these separatists didn't like their children learning dutch and adopting dutch culture.  They found it hard to integrate with Dutch society while retaining strict adherence to their own specific religious and cultural doctrine.  So the decided they needed to move again.

The Separatists were immigrants in Holland, but without the willingness to integrate they could not make Holland their home.  They themselves were intolerant of their new host country.  England wouldn't tolerate them.  They wouldn't accept Holland.  And they refused to change themselves.  Their self-imposed isolation led them to the idea that they could be left alone in America, and land with no King, to do as they pleased... and they intended to establish a new society based on their specific and strict religious and cultural beliefs.

So they worked out a deal with England (and I am simplifying this a bit).  England would give them passage to America, where they would prosper and work off the debt for this passage by sending surplus back to England, to the profit of the investors.  Because of this, the Pilgrims weren't the only people on the Mayflower.  With them were indentured servants they forced to come along, and some "company men" who were responsible for seeing to the financial success of the colony.  In their journals, the pilgrims referred to these people, with whom they would have to live and work, as "the strangers".

So the forces that brought the pilgrims to America were both religious and financial.  Here was a group of people divided between those seeking to create and spread their idea of a religious haven, and those who wanted to make money.

Fortunately the obvious conflict came to a head early, and before they stepped off the boat to start their new colony they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, which established a secular government for the colony.  The leadership for the colony would not rest in religion, but would be shared by all.  Well... not all... 41 men signed, out of the 101 total passengers on the ship.  Women, indentured servants, and children were not given authority to participate in the compact and did not sign it.

But this story isn't just about Pilgrims, it's also about the New World: America, and the people who already inhabited it.  While it's likely Norse sailors (specifically Leif Ericson around 1003) were the first Europeans to North America, Christopher Columbus is the most well known.  Ponce de Leon was the first to reach what would become the United States.  These explorers and those that followed brought with them horrible epidemics of disease, for which the native population had no defenses.  Not only were their immune systems unprepared for the new diseases, they had no experience or medicine for treating these new illnesses.  There is no conclusive estimate of the population of Native Americans living in what would become the United States before European explorers arrived, but credible attempts have estimated a population as low as 2 million, and as high as 18 million.  Similarly, we can't know how many died to disease, but we do know that whole villages disappeared after the arrival of the Europeans.  And we know that by 1900 there were only about 250,000 Native Americans left.  Which means that 400 years after Europeans arrived, the population of Native Americans was reduced by somewhere between 90 and 99%, with some tribes disappearing entirely.

When the first settlers started to arrive, they weren't coming to an empty continent.  They were coming to a place where people had been living for thousands of years.  They had trails, and traded with one another.  They had separate and distinct cultures and languages.  They had specialized skill sets and industries.  But now they were all being devastated by unrelenting waves of epidemic disease and war brought by visitor after visitor looking to exploit the resources of the new world.  Those that survived smallpox were still vulnerable to measles, and plague, and new variants of influenza.  Imagine wave after wave of disease killing half or more of the population over and again.  Those who didn't die still got sick.  Who gathered the food?  Who tended to the ill?  It was devastating to the people, and their cultures.  Their infrastructure crumbled, their population reduced, and their way of life was decimated.  The effect of such devastation to the psyche of a people is beyond imagining.

And so it was when the Mayflower arrived 130 years after the first explorers.  On their first two expeditions ashore the pilgrims found graves, from which they stole household goods and corn - which they would plant in the spring.  On their third expedition they encountered natives, and ended up shooting back and forth at each other (bows versus muskets).  The Pilgrims decided they didn't want to settle in this area, as they had likely offended the locals with their grave robbing and shootout, so they sailed a few days away.  They found cleared land in an easily defended area and began their settlement.  This fantastic location was no happy accident.  Just three years previous this place was called Patuxet, now abandoned after a plague killed all of its residents.  The Pilgrims will say they they founded Plymouth, but it might be more accurate to say they resettled Patuxet.

By the time the Pilgrims found Patuxet it was late December, and they huddled in their ship barely surviving the brutal, hungry first winter.  By march only 47 souls survived, though 102 had left port 6 months before.

There were, roughly, three different groups of local Natives.  They had been watching the pilgrims carefully all winter, just as the pilgrims had been watching them.  In the days before there had been frightening encounters between pilgrims and natives, and the pilgrims were rushing to install a cannon in their emerging fortification.  They were on high alert, and expecting confrontation.  Given the history, mutual fear, and mistrust, a violent encounter between the two groups seemed imminent and unavoidable.

The story many of us were told is that Squanto and a group of Indians approached the pilgrims, as if neither had ever seen the other before, and in greeting Squanto raised his hand and said, "How".  The actual truth is that a visiting chief named Samoset strode, alone,  into the middle of the budding and militarizing pilgrim town and said, "Welcome Englishman."  And then he asked for a beer.  (Truth.)  It turns out Samoset was visiting local Wampanoag chieftain Massasoit, and he spoke some broken English, which he had learned from the English fishermen near his home.  He took it upon himself to open negotiations with the new settlers.  He told them about the local tribes, and brokered an introduction to Chief Massasoit, with whom the pilgrims ultimately signed a treaty.

Along with the treaty came Squanto, a Native American originally from the now defunct Patuxet tribe.  Squanto was invaluable to the Pilgrims.  Not only could he act as a translator, but he also knew the local tribes and the area itself.  It was where he grew up.  He knew what food was available, what crops to plant and how, and he knew not only the language but the disposition and history of local tribes.  Speaking with the locals isn't enough if you can't discern their desires and motives.  Squanto was a great friend to the English Pilgrims, and acted in their interests, sometimes to his own peril.  

How did Squanto learn English language and culture? Squanto had been kidnapped by the English captain Thomas Hunt in 1614.  Hunt abducted 27 natives, Squanto among them, which he sold as slaves in Spain for a small sum.   These hostilities, just years before the arrival of the Pilgrims, are the reason for the initial animosity and aggression toward the English Pilgrims when they arrived, and why the natives were wise enough to attack the English, even if their bows were not a match for English muskets.   Exactly how Squanto survived in the old world, or how he got from Spain to England, is unclear.  It is known that a few years after his abduction, Squanto was "working" (likely as an indentured servant) for Thomas Dermer of the London Company.  Dermer brought Squanto back to the location of the Patuxet village in 1619 as part of a trade and scouting venture, but the village had been wiped out by disease.  After acting as translator and negotiator for Dermer on that trip, the now homeless Squanto stayed in America and went to live with Pokanoket tribe.  The terms of this arrangement are not clear.  It is possible Squanto was a prisoner of the Pokanoket, and that he was "given" in a trade that allowed the Dermer to exit a dangerous situation.  Regardless, Squanto chose to live out the rest of his life with the Pilgrims in his childhood home of Patuxet, now renamed Plymouth by the (re-)colonizing English Pilgrims.  Whatever the exact details, Squanto was one of the most traveled men in the area - having been born in America and spending time in Spain, England, and Newfoundland.

Squanto's time with the pilgrims appears full of adventures.  He was sent as an emissary for peace and trade on behalf of the pilgrims to numerous tribes.  It also appears he leveraged his influence among the Europeans to make some of his own demands from these tribes, which drew the ire of many local tribal leaders.  Chief Massasoit even called for Squanto's execution.  When William Bradford (Plymoth's Governor) diplomatically refused, Massasoit sent a delegation to retrieve Squanto from the Pilgrims.  Again Bradford refused, even when offered a cache of beaver pelts in exchange for Squanto, with Bradford saying, "It was not the manner of the English to sell men's lives at a price”.  Squanto was very valuable to the Plymoth colony, but he died in 1622 of "Indian fever".

In October (most likely) of 1621 the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest.  The was indeed a harvest feast attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.  Both groups brought food and games to the three day celebration.  But this was not the start of the Thanksgiving holiday in America.  It was a harvest festival, and harvest was common ground that both cultures celebrated.   The American holiday of Thanksgiving was first celebrated as such when George Washington and John Adams declared days of thanksgiving during their presidencies.  This was followed by a long period where subsequent Presidents did not declare such events.  A writer and editor named Sarah Hale, most famous for penning "Mary Had a Little Lamb", began to champion the idea of a national "Thanksgiving" holiday in a 17 year campaign of newspaper editorials and personal letters written to five different Presidents.  Perhaps because of her insistence and the popularity she garnered for the idea, Abraham Lincoln revived Thanksgiving as a unified national holiday in 1863.  A few years later Congress enshrined it as a national celebration on the 4th Thursday of November.

And this is my Thanksgiving.  It's not the simpleton's story of an awkward greeting followed by a good meal.  It's the story of a King who wanted a divorce, religious self-righteousness, the greed of men, a clash of cultures, a struggle for survival, loyalty and betrayal,  the creation of a national holiday intended to help mend a nation torn apart by civil war, and the myths we created to tie us all together.  As always, truth is a much more engaging and explanatory than a politely shared fiction.

[hueynomure]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! What are some words or phrases unique to certain parts of your world. Little tells that make someone go "oh, you're from [place]" or start cultural wars about whether a thing is called X or Y? The little isms of the regions that only people "from around here" would get

That’s a huge topic... I’ll tackle an aspect of it for now. Invocations (a la “For the X!”) are a good way to distinguish someone’s most habitual language. And even if someone picked up a saying because they find it good/funny (like I personally do), the slightly off accent usually betrays the speaker.

Both Musskland and Lozniav (now united in the August Draconic Empire) call upon the Land and notable mountains/volcanoes, the specific features and names varying from region and region. Most notably, a tall mountain range on the border is called Storm’s End by Musskland and Frozen Graveyard by Lozniav; the obvious difference in perspective generates the pettiest pub squabbles near the border.

The Gwenceth tribes also refer to the Land/Forest a lot, with variants about specific plants with cultural significance which vary depending on the region. Other commonplace invocations refer to Life, Death or the all-encompassing Cycle of the two.

The Augustan culture revolved around families and ancestors, so invocations about relatives (especially uncles, aunts and grandparents) were pretty common and could get pretty creative (”Grandma’s ratty knickers!”) and slipping in some double entendre was not unheard of, especially in the northern regions. Insults about relatives were the heaviest one could sling; things like “son of a bitch” was, as you can imagine, only used in the most heated circumstances, and “I spit on your ancestors” is equivalent to “I despise everything you are and everything you represent”, with obvious more... scatological options for even less polite circumstances. Traces of this remains in the ex-imperial territories.

Interestingly, while each ex-imperial territory has absorbed some Augustan word or phrase in its language, all words for “empire” and “august” (as in “great”) sound alike* because they come from “imperum Augusta”, which in Augustan merely means “the rule of Augusta”. The phrase was so ubiquitous, even in imperial edicts and manifests for foreign nations, that it acquired a meaning on its own.

*Except for elven and dwarven, who had the concept well before any of the modern nations took form.

Immdrag is ace at astronomy, and it has a tale for every visible constellation; a subtle regional difference in invocation is relative to a legendary archer, Heithrbogi, that some region invoke by her bow and some by her arrows. Her name alone works as a test to check whether someone is an Immdragn native or not.

If anyone’s interested in more of this (I talked about half continent, give or take, and kept myself to an overview) lemme know!

#wbw

[heroes-across-realms]

Additional Races and Options

The world of Emmara includes a wide variety of additional races and variants compared to base settings. This is a short masterpost list to catalog these races and options.

Half-Troll: The far northern climes are home to a greenskin subrace known as trolls. Hairy beasts that are more cunning then ogres and have the unique ability to regenerate wounds and illness, even entire limbs and their heads. As with all greenskins, intermingling happens, and a rare mutation occurs when an orc mates with a troll, a half troll. While not as strong or large as their true troll brethren, they are still larger on average then other greenskins. They also retain a reduced regenerative ability. They're prized warriors among greenskin tribes, used as shock troops and living walls to soak arrows and other attacks.

Morathi: Denizens of the deep underground, the moth-like race known as the Morathi are heralded as the oddest of the sentient races. They have an alien intellect, valuing no coin but instead trade things that they find aesthetically appealing to the individual. Their hive cities serve as the largest markets in the world, hosting exotic valuables and ancient treasures that would’ve otherwise been lost to the ages. But more then anything, their culture thrives off of the slave trade. Morathi slaves are held in high esteem, as they have some feature or asset that the mothmen find attractive, and are often treated more as prized pets then labor. The Morathi are also paradoxical in their beliefs, viewing sunlight as their patron god, an unobtainable beauty that has been the downfall of many of their race. Morathi on the surface usually remain active purely at night, lest their driven mad by their desire to obtain the sun.

Lesser Vampires: The first vampires were the chosen generals of the demon lord of undeath, Wrought. His chosen would sow chaos and death upon the mortal plane, strengthening his power and the reach of his cult. True vampires were able to spread their gift to willing individuals via a blood ritual, creating more of their hosts to enact their lord’s will. Those who were bitten, yet survived, became a form of vampire more beast then undead. Strigoi, as their called, are meerly another tool to a vampire coven, powerful monsters to tear their prey apart. However, numerous gods of death took offence to the false life of the vampire, Morgana specifically. Thus, she took on a repentant vampire and turned his brood into a tool against the horrid undead.

A lesser vampire is both stronger and weaker then their true progenitors. They are able to stand the sunlight without agony or loss of powers, as well as cross running water and other such superstitions. They are not as powerful, however, and lack the ability to touch the land and wildlife a true vampire can. They do not require food and drink, rest, or air to breath, and the are not required to feed upon living flesh and blood, though the act does rejuvenate a weakened or nearly dying lesser vampire.

Shal, Sand Elves: The eastern continent is home to many exotic wonders, and the people are both familiar, and yet still different. The elves of the west are friends of the forest, as many children of the fae are. Yet the elves of the east look to the inhospitable desert as their home. These elves call themselves the Shal, or sand-born in common. The Shal empire, The Rimal al Abahaia Sultanate, is the largest elven empire left in the world, though most of it is shifting dunes or dangerous badlands. Caravans dot the desert as they move along hidden paths and oasis. The culture is matriarchal, as with the western elves, the Sultana resides over a council of viziers and rules her subjects.

The Shal themselves are a touch different from their western cousins, naturally more inclined to inherent magic, instead of learned magic as wizards, clerics, and druids do. They know staple magics to communicate simply on the desert, using divination to talk to their fellows. They naturally have darker shades for their skin and hair tones, with most having striking copper or golden colored eyes, yet crimsons to yellows are also not unheard of.

Duana: The first children of the fae to leave the Otherworld, the Duana are a race that perfectly blend primal savagery, magical prowess, and the stewardship of nature. They appear as elongated humanoids, not much taller then an elf or human, but with long fae-like ears, curling horns that sprout from a masked face, and blackened fangs and claws. They have become a rare sight in the modern world, many of their forests are long since gone. The ones they do inhabit, they guard jealously, even to elves and druids. They live for near immortal lengths of time, remembering when elves and halflings as a younger race. Due to their rarity, not many actually understand how to deal with the creatures, save ancient and wizened elves.

#world building #dnd #emmara #personal setting #fae #elves #elf #underdark #orcs #orc #troll #vampire

[we-are-darkelf]

What role do Dark Elves play in a setting/party since they're a core race in 5e? A simple question with a lot of nuance I know sorry :/

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to formulate a good answer. Also stuff happened, but I’m doing better.

So. They are mostly meant to be an antithesis to elves and usually their lore is designed in that idea.

In the d&d forgotten realms setting, they are kind of the antithesis to the surface elves. That is noticable as they have a different name other than the given name dark elf. They are ruled by a tyrannic and highly active evil deity. And they (elves and dark variants) attack each other on sight due to past wars between each other and their deities. Infighting is common.

This means, in general they are absolutely meant to be the bad guy. A major antagonist etc. Their role being a bad guy with some exceptions (Drizzt etc.).

Now compare this to the dark elves from the eberron setting that are normadic tribes believing in a scorpion god and believing themselves to be the crown of the elves. They live on an old continent in the ruins of their former Masters, believing they totally should rule this place.

Still not good, but a huge step forward from the FR canon.

Then you have the Dunmer, a different kind of dark elves who got cursed by Azura with dark skin for the later Tribunal royally fucking up with the heart of Lorkhan. Proud and cunning. Infighting is common. After the Tribunal fell the original Daedra took their place, Azura, Boethia, Mephala. It can be debated if that’s better but that is not the place to do that.

Dark elves seem to take the role of promiscous people, proud and vain, brutal sometimes, arrogant, stubborn and gloomy and yet strong fighters and faithful people, with the tendency to pick the wrong deities. FR canon taken out they are also loyal people, once you gained their trust. Politics play an important role in dark elf society.

Other roles for dark elves in personal settings are always appreciated. :)

[kemetic-dreams]

Msiri (c. 1830 – December 20, 1891) founded and ruled the Yeke Kingdom (also called the Garanganze or Garenganze kingdom) in south-east Katanga (now in DR Congo) from about 1856 to 1891. His name is sometimes spelled 'M'Siri' in articles in French. Other variants are "Mziri", "Msidi", and "Mushidi"; and his full name was Mwenda Msiri Ngelengwa Shitambi.

Msiri's origins and rise to power

Southern Central Africa in 1890 showing the central position of Msiri’s Yeke Kingdom and the principal trade routes, with the approximate territories of Msiri’s main allies (names in yellow) and the approximate areas occupied by European powers (names in orange — does not show spheres of influence or borders). The east coast trade was controlled by the

Sultan of Zanzibar Areas of influence of other tribes and of France and Germany

are not shown.From Tabora to Katanga[

Msiri was a Nyamwezi (also known as "Yeke" or "Bayeke") from Tabora in Tanzania and a trader, like his father Kalasa, involved in the copper, ivory and slave trade controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar and his Arab and Swahili agents. The main trade route went to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika and then to Lake Mweru and Katanga

Military power

Msiri realised access to guns was the key to power, and in Katanga, he had copper and ivory resources to trade for them. He formed a militia and started to conquer his neighbours. He also married into the Luba royal family, starting his practice of using wives as spies

He depended on the east coast trade for his guns and gunpowder, which passed through the territory of his rivals, making supplies expensive and unreliable. Instead he turned to the west coast, sending his nephew Molenga to the Ovimbundu and Portuguese traders around Benguela in Angola, and a trader there called Coimbra became his supplier. The Luba people to his north-west had controlled the west coast trade, but Msiri took it over and halted their southwards expansion.

Msiri now had the power and influence to form alliances as more of an equal with warlords such as Tippu Tip, who controlled the eastern Congo from Lake Tanganyika up to what is now Uganda in the north-east, and the Nyamwezi leader Mirambo who controlled the land route between Lake Tanganyika and the coast, and he sought to emulate them. Msiri achieved what other tribes and the Portuguese had tried without as much success, which was to trade across the continent, with both coasts.

By the time of David Livingstone's visit to Mwata Kazembe VIII in 1867, Msiri had taken control of most of the Mwata's territory and trade on the west bank of the Luapula River. Tippu Tip wanted revenge on Kazembe for killing six of his men, and he formed an alliance with Msiri to attack and kill Mwata Kazembe in 1870,and Msiri subsequently influenced the appointment of his successors. Msiri's control of south-east Katanga and its copper resources was consolidated.

Msiri's strategy

In a region and age dominated by armed traders, Msiri was very successful. His control of the trade routes between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean took ruthlessness and arms (and over his neighbours, Msiri had what would be called in the west ‘superior military technology’). But it also took a strategic eye, and the guile and persuasion required to form alliances with hundreds of other tribes, rulers and traders. He did this through his wives, who numbered more than 500. He took a wife from the village of each subordinate chief, making the chief think this gave him an advocate at Msiri's court, but the wife was used to spy on the chief instead and to obtain information about his dealings and loyalty. The wife could also be used as a hostage in case of any rebellion by that chief.

Msiri also cemented alliances with other powerful trading partners through marriage. His favourite wife was said to be Maria de Fonseca, sister of his Portuguese-Angolan trading partner Coimbra. Msiri married one of his own daughters to Tippu Tip.

In 1884, wishing to gain some advice on how to deal with the approaching European colonial powers, he invited a Scottish missionary, Frederick Stanley Arnot, who he had heard was in Angola, to come to his capital at Bunkeya, 180 km west of the Luapula River. In 1886 Arnot arrived and was the first white person to settle in Katanga. After three years he went back to Britain to recruit more missionaries, including Charles Swan and Dan Crawford.

Thus, the first missionaries in Katanga did not decide to go there at their own initiative. Msiri's strategy worked: the missionaries' advice prevented him being taken in by the first British and Belgian expeditions (see below).It is also possible that Msiri had the idea to hold the missionaries hostage in case of any war with the Europeans, in the same way that he held hostage the women of subject tribes.

#msiri #african #katanga #luba #tippu tip #mwata #kemetic dreams

[think32blog]

Thoughts on the border by Phil Mac Giolla Bháin

I was introduced to the realities of the Border when the “cattle boat” which had sailed from the Broomielaw in Glasgow to North Wall in Dublin was taken off line.

Then the ten year old me learned about places like Stranraer and Larne.

In order to get to Dublin to take the train to my father’s town of Westport we had to cross the Border.

The last time I recall that militarised demarcation line entering my consciousness was in the summer of 1994.

We crossed the Border from Fermanagh into Leitrim and a very large member of An Garda Síochána looked at my green passport.

When he saw my name as Gaeilge it prompted a question in the first language of the state:

"Cá bhfuil sibh ag dul?” he asked me.

“Táimid ag dul go Contae Mhaigh Eo.”

We were indeed going to my father’s county in the Wesht for a family holiday.

Such a linguistic interaction on the other side of the line would have been dangerously out of place, especially with the locally recruited security forces.

As we drove towards the West we all felt a relief to be in our own place and not in the Six Counties.

While we were in Mayo Ireland beat Italy at soccer in New York and a British death squad did their stuff at Loughinisland.

Two years later we had settled back home in Ireland.

For herself and me, both with an Irish born parent and Irish grandparents on the other side of the house this little island was always home.

We’ve reared our brood here in this the quintessential Border county of Donegal.

Much has changed here since the days of Brits and checkpoints.

These days I think nothing of driving to Derry for NUJ meetings or to pillage the local shopping centres as post-Brexit Sterling tumbles against the Euro.

Over that twenty one years the Partition line has slowly dissolved and the European Union has played a positive role in minimising that geo-political disfigurement on this island.

However, now we could be faced with some of it coming back again.

In February 2016 before the Brexit vote I wrote a piece for the Scottish politics Blog Bella Caledonia.

It might warrant another read now.

A lot of my fears expressed in that piece appear worryingly prescient.

The Irish story over the centuries has been about events in Europe and Britain having unforeseen yet profoundly long lasting consequences here in Ireland, e.g. the Reformation, counter-reformation, French revolution and the First World War.

They all had a uniquely Irish impact on people here.

Now the UK has decided to do walking away from the European Union.

My green passport is no more, it was a beautiful document with a gold inlaid Harp.

Although my merlot coloured travel document today isn’t nearly as aesthetically pleasing I view the EU livery is an emblem of peaceful cooperation for a continent disfigured by centuries of war.

The Peace Process on this island probably couldn’t have occurred without the Maastricht Treaty.

In creating a more harmonised union across the continent of Europe the stage was set for two member states of the EU, assisted by the Clinton Administration, to explore a dénouement to the war situation on this island.

Back then I was privy to the thinking of some senior Republicans as they entered the talks that would produce the Good Friday Agreement.

They were calculating, prescient men.

Some of them had spent a large chunk of their youth in British prisons.

This had given them with the ability to sketch out a long game, but at no point did I hear anyone gaming out Britain leaving the European Union!

However, we are nearly at that juncture.

I have, in recent weeks, spoken to some old comrades from that time.

We shared a joke about how events can blindside all of us.

Some things, though, do not change.

The modern Irish revolutionary tradition, which emerged in the 19th century was based on the following rationale:

England will only attend to Ireland when the Irish become a problem for them.

When the people of Ireland were docile then they could literally starve to death and it didn’t really register with the Westminster tribe.

Now the Bullingdon boys are startled that the Micks could actually create a roadblock to Brexit on the Lifford to Stabane road.

The Backstop…

We now have the situation where even a Taoiseach who last year wore a local variant of the Poppy in Dáil Éireann cannot agree with the Grand Old Dame Britannia on what to do with her Irish frontier.

The son of an Indian immigrant and educated at an exclusive  private school that has a  Church of Ireland ethos, Varadkar isn’t exactly a Provo from central casting.

Indeed he might be the most pro-British Taoiseach in the history of the State.

When such a person can cause Border problems for the ruling elite on the Thames then we are truly in uncharted waters.

I think the fact that Leo Varadkar’s Chief Whip during that phase of the negotiations was Donegal TD Joe McHugh might be one of those small details that can ultimately have significant implications.

I’ve known Joe since he was an unfancied candidate for the County Council here.

His political career has spanned the Good Friday Agreement and he has been involved in several EU funded cross Border initiatives.

During the Phase One part of the Withdrawal Agreement talks there appeared to be a binary choice between a hard border or Northern Ireland remaining within the Single Market and the Customs Union.

Quite simply there would need to be a trade border either at Lifford or Larne.

Of course, the former subverts the Belfast Agreement and the latter compromises the integrity of the United Kingdom.

However, because the British government was dependent on the DUP to support her minority administration Theresa May said that a trade barrier between the Six Counties and Britain was a non-starter.

Therefore, the British negotiating team introduced the Backstop.

Consequently, the whole of the UK would need to effectively remain within the economic structures of the EU in order to satisfy Arlene that the “Precious Union” would not be compromised at Larne.

That little Ireland can cause a hold up in the Brexit talks should put to bed the “too wee” arguments in Scotland.

This current Border impasse demonstrates that a small EU state like the Republic of Ireland has a voice at Brussels and that it is one that is being heard.

If Brexit is a fascinating parlour game for the chattering classes here on the debatable land in the North West of Ireland it is prosaically real.

The European Union played a key role in bringing the Northern conflict to a close.

Brexit has the capacity to subvert the slow progress we have made in the last two decades.

The recent murder in Creggan of my colleague and friend Lyra McKee shows what is at stake.

None of this registers with the Westminster tribe as they play out a rivalry that has existed since the day that matron favoured one of them over the other at Eton.

That place remains the never failing source of all our political evils.

The people of this island deserve better.

Phil Mac Giolla Bháin is an author, blogger, journalist, novelist and playwright.

He is based in County Donegal, Ireland.

He is an active member of the National Union of Journalists and the chairman of the Irish Writers Union.

An established print journalist for many years Phil has also built up a considerable online readership through his blog www.philmacgiollabhain.ie .

His journalism over the past decade has focussed on highlighting the incidence of anti-Irish racism in Scotland.

He was a staff reporter on An Phoblacht for many years.

His debut novel “The Squad” was published by Books Noir in 2018.

#unitedireland #irishpolitics #irishunity #ireland #ambition4ireland

[thelimitsofcontrol]

Underworld Ascendant Review

It was, basically, the immersive sim that asked the questions: Would you wish to battle your way in?

Crowdfunded through Kickstarter and subsequently signed by writer 505 Games, Underworld Ascendantwas initially pitched as a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld developed by a veteran team comprising several men and women who worked to the first, most especially its direct designer Paul Neurath.

Regrettably, far out of a tribute to an influential classic, the end result is both a devastating disappointment for Underworld fans along with a really lousy match in its own right. Ascendant is riven with glitches. Each player-empowering attribute is reversed by a collection of bafflingly ill-conceived layout options. And where you go your advancement is continually chafed through an all-pervading absence of refinement.

The narrative, for what it is worth, informs an oblique narrative of warring gods and conveys only tenuous connections to the first Underworld games. You perform as a recognizable selected one teeming with the sole duty of rescuing the world from impending catastrophe. The game's main antagonist bellows his ghostly dangers at the start of every new place as yet another hour ticks by on the doomsday clock, but it is all bluster. Nothing about the planet feels imperiled before the game over screen descends and you are left feeling bemused rather than conquered.

The Stygian Abyss of its subtitle was a multi-level, interconnected dungeon inhabited by varied, warring tribes that detected what felt like different cultural practices. Ascendant's variant of the is made up of seven different levels whose random design (here is a swamp, within a fort( within a volcano) obliterates any proposal of inner consistency and a massive but empty hub region that's so dull to traverse it gets really frustrating to go back to between assignments.

Again unlike the first game, which allow you to wander freely throughout the dungeon and pick up quests out of its own inhabitants, Ascendant requires a more contemporary and compartmentalized approach. There is a job board at the heart where you pick one of four assignments until you step through a portal site into the appropriate site. Critical path missions ask that you come across the abyssal key dropped in each of these seven worlds, however other assignments --every group by one of three factions with whom it is possible to get favor--might get you kill a specific enemy or amass a variety of a particular product. It is possible to just take 1 assignment at a time, but so there is a good deal of hiking back and forth between heartbeat and dungeon degree. And, curiously, any assignment that asks you to accumulate things will dismiss some of said items in your possession and make you collect new ones instead.

None of the assignments are complex and ultimately boil down into entering the dungeon, combating or sneaking your way into a specific place, picking up or murdering everything you require, and legging it back into the closest portal to twist into the hub. There are no NPCs to speak to, no discussions to have, no narrative choices to create, nothing but a lot of what feel as procedurally-generated fetch quests delivered over and over again. If you remember the arbitrary quests given to you from the different Jarls during Skyrim, that is pretty much the whole game hereexcept replicated more than seven inactive dungeon levels rather than spread across an entirely smooth continent.

The nearest Ascendant comes to honoring Underworld's heritage is in the way that it gives players the capability to personalize their playing style. Perhaps you're an axe-wielding fighter that has also mastered recovery magic?

In a wonderful touch, spells are not merely a substitute for firearms, but are far better suited to the cerebral player who would like to use the surroundings to their benefit. 1 spell allows you produce a chunk of fire, by way of instance, but it is not a normal fireball which you hurl in an enemy; it is rather utilized to place different things on fire , state, collapse the path that enemy has been standing on, or more mundanely, burn a weapon that has been blocking your path. The tree is adaptable and lets you craft a personality that reflects how that you need to play with, and leaves lots of space to experiment with different play fashions should you want to roll up a new personality.

The odds of doing this are slim, regrettably. Underworld Ascendant is not only a bare-bones action-RPG, in addition, it is filled with glitches and bugs also conveys a very bizarre save system. I have encountered glitches which I would classify as insignificant: regular deep seated, untextured holes on the planet geometry; traces of dialog repeating on loop till you leave the place; becoming stuck liberally onto a stairs; unable to escape a knee-deep pool of water since the present is strong; standing too near a torso when opening it and using the physics fling you across the area. These problems, and a lot more, I will deal with. They are irritating, confident, but they are not game-breaking.

However, the bugs become game-breaking when, as an instance, your character becomes trapped between two pieces of geometry and the only way out would be to reload. Or if you can't use your bow though you still have plenty of arrows built. Or if you can actually use your bow and see the arrow shoot throughout the world but it apparently passes through the enemy without even doing any harm. Or once an enemy spots you and runs right into a corner and keeps attempting to operate through a wall at the same time you strike it from behind before it expires. Or if you pull on a lever and a rolling spike snare vanishes in the world but remains really there and kills you. Or when an enemy has trapped in a cycle of leaping in the air and throwing a smoke bomb in its feet. These problems, and a lot more, are ones that I can not cope with.

But perhaps most of all, I can not deal with the rescue system. To start with, you can't save wherever you prefer. You are able to conserve if you prefer, however loading this rescue may see you restart in the start of the level with your stock intact but any modifications to the degree reset. It's possible, however, plant a tree sapling at particular points during a level to function as a focal stage should you die, very similar to the Vita-Chambers at Bioshock. This would be fine if Underworld Ascendant was a run-based game in which you are mainly interested in just how far you are able to get and what loot drops. It is a mission-based game in which you are researching a degree for upwards of one hour every time, attempting to finish a particular objective. You are already revisiting the identical level over and over again by virtue of needing to come back to the heart to money in a mission and pick up the following. Needing to restart a degree from the start every time you load a rescue is simply adding insult to injury.

For most gamers, particularly the time-poor, the rescue system will be sufficient to leave Underworld Ascendant unplayable. But if it had been addressed, and also a more traditional system patched , it would not be possible to recommend this game to anybody. At precisely the exact same time, even freed by the hopes its own historic baggage brings, it's a clear failure. The soul of Ultima Underworld resides on elsewhere.

[hhbchats]

Top 5 Bill Predictions by Bill Gates for 2022

When you’ve had multiple spells as the world’s wealthiest man, it’s safe to say you can tell what could be (or will be) based on minimal historical context. Businessman William H. Gates (a.k.a. Bill Gates) is renowned for his visionary leadership, a virtue he exemplified by steering Microsoft through testy times and repositioning the company as a resilient force for the foreseeable future.

It’s no wonder then that executives and ordinary people worldwide are eager to listen to a man who seems to know how to interpret the times, alongside having the results to back it up.

Here, we’ll explore Bill’s top five predictions for next year in the face of growing interconnectedness and reverberating action. In other words, the world is plagued by problems common to all tribes and tongues, making cross-border collaborations necessary to build solutions successfully.

Predictions That Will Define 2022

According to one of the wealthiest men alive, the following is more or less a blueprint of how the future of humankind looks. We’ve captured them across five broad points:

#1 — mRNA Vaccines Will Be the Most Important Outcome of the Pandemic

Despite the high tide of opposition, mRNA vaccines have come to stay. The best part is that the impact of this scientific breakthrough will outlive the current pandemic.

COVID-19 put the world on its toes as regards medical research. Even with the Omicron variant of the virus throwing new curveballs that the current body of knowledge does not cover, more information is emerging as to the efficacy of vaccines or prior infection.

That said, there are better tools and information bytes to deal with potentially harmful variants than at any other time in the history of the pandemic. Discovering the variant earlier than Delta was possible because of improved genome sequencing investment by one country (South Africa).If more countries chimed in, the multiplier effect of finding variants quicker positions the world to anticipate and deal with the emergence of new virus strains.

Mr. Gates believes that despite being more potent than flu, the lethal effects of COVID-19 could easily be halved or better contained than current efforts have achieved.

#2 — Trust is Necessary for Effective Collaboration on Big Issues

The world is no longer a global village just because we can communicate using digital technology. There are more collective challenges than we faced ten or twenty years ago.

While we eschew individual solutions in favor of communal or group approaches, Bill Gates suggests bringing down all walls of distrust to surface and implement solutions as quickly as possible. The pandemic has exposed the power of global cooperation and innovation. Therefore, instead of lockdowns, life has quickly resumed across many spheres of society on all continents.

Trust is especially essential in getting people to support major novel initiatives aiming to resolve crises of significant proportions. Bill cites the 2021 Edelman Trust Index that shows trust declining at an alarming rate worldwide. Unfortunately, most people don’t trust governments, so they find it easy to blame them when something terrible happens within their system.

Gates supports the idea that since social media is at the root of the deepening distrust and division in societies today, government regulation is necessary to determine what use an individual or other entity can put the technology to.

The billionaire goes on to suggest that governments may apply similar rules that control what airs on television to determine what’s off-limits on social media. He admits, though, that it’s important to collectively decide how this should work and how to enforce it.

Unless we fix the trust problem at the most basic level, it’ll stifle even the most innovative solutions. Restoring trust in the system requires installing the right leadership, especially in a democracy.

#3 — The Climate Conversation Will Inform Us on the Right Path to Progress

Change is only possible by a collective decision, but it’s not promised. A collective decision is only possible through conversation. Conversations are one part of the tenacity equation that produces eventual progress.

Conversations at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, made it possible to provide the tools for collaboration towards avoiding a climate fiasco.

When conversations are enthusiastic and feature concrete commitments, Bill Gates believes we can have a society where introspection and adaptation become the order of the day.

There are now new commitments to invest in clean technologies, lower methane emissions, outlaw deforestation in a decade, and help farmers adapt. These are not accidental feats; they are the outcome of deliberate and painstaking activity by everyone who cares (which should be all of us!) to ensure that climate change becomes urgent in our daily conversation and policymaking.

The conversation approach is crucial in combating many of our problems in the global comity.

#4 — Digitization Will Play a Bigger Role in How We Live and Work

All of life did not grind to a halt at the height of the pandemic. Instead, we embarked on the long road ahead by employing innovative technology to work and live. Physical commerce and office work gave way to advanced e-commerce and remote work, respectively. As a result, the pandemic proved to be a blessing in disguise, creating tomorrow faster than we could have imagined only months before.

In 2022, expect more digitization of the manual methods you’re currently using for anything. Bill highlights the potential for continuous experimentation that will inevitably cause a paradigm shift in productivity and everything else that could improve.

The emerging workplace is a picture of digitally-powered collaboration, and there’s the bandwidth and software to make even bigger strides in 2022. Virtual reality (VR) will alter more industries in 2022 than probably the last half-century combined.

#5 — Education Will Embrace Digital Tools to “Build” a New Kind of Student

Besides Gates’ ruminations, it’s clear to see that in-person education is quickly relegating to the past. The concept of remote learning won’t be as alien in 2022. More digital tools are helping kids, and high school students learn regardless of their location.

Affordable hardware and software are necessary to effectively have students in class as and when due. But, it should be a minor bother to narrow the access gap even more. Growing participation is vital to designing successful learning digitization programs.

Increasingly dynamic curricula will adapt to specific learner needs and be more responsive as the demand for digitization grows. However, Gates emphasizes that physical classrooms will not disappear. After all, e-books have not spelled the death of dead-tree books.

Therefore, greater digitization of learning in 2022 will be an excellent supplement to the classroom experience. Both teachers and students will benefit much from learning digitization in 2022.

Are We There Yet?

In closing, we borrow the title for the popular Ice Cube movie. The paradigm shift from the pandemic cuts across everything humankind has been familiar with for decades. But, expect it to be more extensive than Bill Gates or anyone can capture.

Digitization will significantly influence healthcare, and non-pharmaceutical interventions or NPIs have become a real thing. Travel restrictions due to the omicron variant are a case in point. It’s, therefore, certain that 2022 will feature significant adaptations using the tools that the pandemic has gifted us — as uncomfortable as the times have been thus far.

click here

#bill gates #news #information #international news #world news #bollywood